


Perennials

by airdeari



Series: self-indulgent aoilight within [16]
Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-01-17 13:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12366996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airdeari/pseuds/airdeari
Summary: Something of an epilogue to Flower Language. It's been a while since Aoi last went on a business trip to Japan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting around in my drafts because I might want to experiment and do some neat stuff in the second chapter, but I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I could at least deliver the first chapter straightaway.

“Do you know how long you’ll be gone?” Light asked.

“Not really,” Aoi huffed, slamming his suitcase shut, “but this time I’ll actually keep you posted, how ’bout that.”

Light smirked as he slid off of the bed. Aoi leaned into his arm when he held it out. He sighed with a smile as Light pulled him closer by the waist.

“Can you send me voice texts?” Light murmured.

Aoi managed one kiss on the neck before settling his weary head on Light’s shoulder. “ _You_ send _me_ voice texts, too,” he grumbled.

“That was a legitimate use of the verb ‘can’. Will it be possible for you?”

“Yeah, I’ll just be really fuckin’ embarrassed if I gotta do it in public, so they’ll all be in Japanese while I’m at American airports, and they’ll all be in English once I’m in Japan.”

“I’ll respond in the same language so you can listen.”

Aoi tightened his arms around Light’s slender chest. “You’re a gem, babe. I love you.”

“You are too easily impressed by the smallest amount of effort I expend towards making you comfortable, Aoi. Please tell me you have higher expectations of me than ‘will speak the same language as you without being asked’.”

“Listen, Light, I have shit taste in men and you know it. You’re a goddamn delight.”

“I think the truth lies a little closer to the fact that you’re not willing to expend much effort to make yourself comfortable.”

Light left a long kiss in Aoi’s hair in the silence that followed. He lifted Aoi’s head by the chin, and leaned forward until their foreheads touched. Aoi stared back into his closed eyes.

“You packed your medications?” Light asked.

“Look, it was an _episode_ , it’s not like it’s gonna happen again this time, okay,” Aoi protested.

“Did you pack them.”

“Yeah, yeah, I did.”

“Will you promise me that you’ll take them if you need to?” Light stroked his thumb along Aoi’s cheek. “Or if you can’t bring yourself to it, you’ll talk to me. Or to Akane, or Clover, or whomever you feel comfortable—”

“ _Yes_ , babe,” Aoi sighed. “I’m sorry about last time, okay?”

“You don’t need to apologize anymore.” Light lifted his head and pressed his lips to Aoi’s forehead. “I just want you to take care of yourself.”

Aoi shivered with a smile as Light left a trail of kisses all around his face. “Goddamn delight,” he repeated. “I’ll miss you, babe.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the return of this little drabble, which I honest-to-god completely forgot about. I'm going to finish it out in the next couple of days—the last chapter is already written, just needs some minor editing. ...And it's been written since October. ...I just. I forgot. I honestly forgot.
> 
> It's also the return of the iOS work skins!! Check out the tutorial for these here: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434845/chapters/14729722>

Aoi Kurashiki  
  
**Aoi Kurashiki** **opinionated pool noodle** gay  
**Aoi Kurashiki** clover what the hell  
did you listen to that what th efuck  
**opinionated pool noodle** no oh my god!!!  
aoi omg whatever u said was so gay u made him forget to lock his phone  
hes playing the harp now   
**Aoi Kurashiki** wow gay  
all i said is i love you  
**opinionated pool noodle** changed **Aoi Kurashiki** 's conversation name to **big gay**.  
**big gay** yeah yeah  
**opinionated pool noodle** home soon?  
**big gay** yeah.  
love you too.  



	3. Chapter 3

The last three texts had gone unanswered, even the spoken one. When Aoi switched his phone’s system clock back to the right timezone as he hauled his suitcase up the stairs from the underground parking garage, he realized that the last-minute delay and rescheduling had made him even later than he thought. Light had likely fallen asleep hours ago.

Aoi wanted to fall asleep a day ago.

He fumbled with the lock on the door. For the first few steps inside the apartment, he entertained the notion of carrying his suitcase to keep the wheels from rattling the hardwood floors. Fatigue made it, and the rest of his body, too heavy. He dragged himself and his bag to the bedroom, no matter the noise.

He felt like he was floating when he saw the tufts of Light’s hair poking out from under the blankets.

When he woke up eleven hours later, Light would tell him, with a hint of bitterness that told of a stubbed toe, that he left his suitcase in the hallway in front of the door, though he remembered no such thing. He did remember shedding his jacket on the floor, and stepping on the heels of his shoes to walk out of them on his way to the bed. He remembered that Light was sprawled out in the very center of the bed, leaving almost no room for him to climb in.

He also remembered what Light said to him after he shifted and frowned at the movement of his blankets.

“S’me,” Aoi mumbled. “M’home. M’tired.”

He could barely keep his eyes open, but he tried his best just to watch Light’s face light up with a giddy, sleepy smile. Light slid his arm over Aoi’s back, running his hand up and down, drinking in the texture of his shirt, the warmth of his body. “Babe,” he murmured.

And then Aoi had no trouble keeping his eyes open. His eyes shot wide open, in fact, and stayed that way.

“Holy shit, did you just call me babe?”

“Mm?”

“Babe.”

Light nuzzled his nose into the space under Aoi’s chin, still wearing his delirious grin. “Mmhmm.”

“You’re never gonna believe me when you wake up.”

Light hummed again. Aoi felt the vibrations of his neck against his shoulder like a tickle.

“Love you, babe,” Aoi whispered.

“Mmm… miss you.”

“I know, I know. Me too. Go back to sleep.”

“Love… you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's ya boy shifting perspective in the middle of a chapter without warning, enjoy the unthrilling conclusion

“You left your suitcase in the hallway right in front of the door,” said Light.

Aoi paused with the fork in his mouth, eyes wide. Though he had no memory of leaving the bag behind, he had no memory of not leaving it behind, either. His head sagged with a sigh.

“Sorry, babe, I was exhausted, I didn’t even…”

“It’s alright.” Light nestled his head beside Aoi’s from behind, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. Aoi jumped when he felt hands slide across his stomach.

“Whoa, shit. Two arms. Okay. Didn’t realize you had two arms already. Okay. You’re up early.”

“You’re up _late_ ,” Light corrected. “Clearly I’ve made breakfast, Aoi. Do you think I would do that with one hand, given the choice?”

With a groan, Aoi shoved his weight back against Light’s chest. The boys were tangled in thoroughly disrupted sheets on the bed, Light sitting up against the headboard behind Aoi, who had a plate of buttered toast with jam on his lap, plus a few chunks of sliced melon. A mug of his favorite coffee sat cooling on the side table. He grabbed it, took a tentative sip to test, and when he decided it was still a bit too hot to drink, he kissed Light on the lips.

“Mmph.” Light pulled away with a grimace. “My favorite. Thank you, Aoi.”

“How can you not like coffee?” Aoi snickered. “I mean, I get people in general not likin’ coffee, but _you_ not likin’ coffee just seems wrong.”

“I drink tea. I’m fundamentally at odds with ye coffee drinkers.” He circled his arms tighter around Aoi to trap him against his chest, where he could not crane his neck to reach Light’s mouth for kisses.

Aoi took another sip despite the heat, set his mug back down, and finished the last of the melon. After he swallowed, he said, “Hey, you said something to me last night when I came in.”

“Nothing coherent, I’m sure.”

“You said ‘babe’. You called me ‘babe’.”

Aoi desperately tried to twist his head around enough to see the look on Light’s face, but Light still had too tight of a grip on his chest, and now he had frozen.

“Well, I suppose it’s grown on me.”

He kissed Aoi’s temple. When his hands slid down to rest against Aoi’s hips, he found them twisting as Aoi scrambled to turn around and face him.

“Holy shit, are you gonna start calling me babe now?”

Light lifted a hand to Aoi’s cheek to feel his huge smile. “Oh, maybe, from time to time,” he replied.

“But you _hate_ it.”

“Yes, it’s a stupid word, in both connotation and aural aesthetics. I still stand by this,” he said. “But if one word can make you _this_ happy, then I’m going to say it until the effect wears off.”

He pushed against Aoi’s cheek and turned his face away when he felt Aoi move closer.

“Coffee breath, dear.”

“No, no, I’m not gonna—just… hold still a second.”

Light held rigid. He had not yet changed into today’s clothes, so it could not be a tag sticking out or a fold out of place or untucked, and he thought he had brushed his hair. He pressed his lips together and ran a quick tongue over them and felt nothing, nor in his front teeth, nor when he touched a thumb and forefinger to the corners of his mouth.

“No, move your hand, you ass,” Aoi teased, dragging it away. “Hold… still. Actually, look up, just, just a little…”

Light felt a flush of warmth at the touch of Aoi’s fingertips under his chin, gently pushing upwards.

“Oh my God. Babe.”

He brushed his thumb over Light’s cheek just before smacking a kiss on it.

“You got _freckles_.”

Light shivered and wriggled away from Aoi’s touch, sliding his hands over his face to cover his cheeks and his sheepish smile. “I was held captive in direct sunlight by Clover many times in your absence.”

“Light, you’re, you’re fucking. You’re. Holy shit. You’re.”

As Aoi’s voice became higher, and his sentences more fragmented, Light let his hands fall from his cheeks. “Capable of producing melanin, yes,” he replied with a growing smile, “despite all evidence I’ve heretofore provided to the contrary.”

Aoi seized Light’s face in both hands and squeezed. “You’re so fucking cute, I hate you. God, lemme kiss you, I love you so much.”

“Impossible. Coffee breath.” Light turned his head away with a smug smile.

“Naw, c’mon, it’s melon breath now. What do I have to call you to make you swoon, _mein liebling_ or something?”

There was a sudden spark in Light’s expression. He cupped Aoi’s face with both hands and pulled him into a long, slow kiss, one so deep that it left Aoi’s head spinning when he blinked and saw Light’s warm smile before his eyes.

“G… got it. _Mein liebling_ ,” he mumbled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Don’t expect it to work again, not with such shabby pronunciation,” Light teased. “You simply got the best of me with the element of surprise.”

“ _Ma chérie?_ ”

“I believe that’s a feminine noun on account of its article, so not quite. Try again.”

“Prettiest guy in the universe. Apple of my fuckin’ eye. Partner in crime since 2029. I mean, it’s really been since 2018, but it rhymes with—”

Light kissed him again, or tried to, through the burning smile he could not shed.


End file.
